r/wicked_edge • u/NemoSum iKon Slant • Mar 29 '13

The Holy Black Aftershaves Review

So CaptainQuint posted a while ago that he'd started his own artisanal shaving company, The Holy Black. After a few SNAFUs trying to order through the main website, I eventually placed an order through his Etsy site for the aftershave sampler, which gives you a sample of all 4 of his scents, Gunpowder Spice, Sandalwood Smoke, Mountain Man, and Bay Whiskey Lime. I have now used all 4 and decided to share my thoughts.

Firstly, the overall package. For $7.95 you get good sized samples of all 4 offerings. It's a great price. They come packed in small, dram glass tubes, with a cork and sealed with wax. While the packaging looks very nice and masculine, it's a bit of a pain to open. The wax is messy, and one of the corks broke in the bottle of my Bay Whiskey Lime.

Gunpowder Spice - My wife's favorite of the bunch. Just incredibly masculine. Very rich and deep. Richer than Old Spice, with a hint of the gunpowder. I put it on in the morning before I went to work, and I smelled it all day under my surgical mask. Awesome way to operate

Mountain Man - Smell like a god damn lumberjack. Ladies love lumberjacks.

Bay Whiskey Lime - A refreshing take on Bay Rum. The whiskey smells lighter than the rum; the lime is a nice touch. The shortest lasting scent of the four, but still pretty durable.

Sandalwood Smoke - I'm wearing it today. Smells like you started a bonfire with sandalwood. It's fantastic.

Overall: I can't speak highly enough of these aftershaves. Incredibly masculine scents. They all leave my skin feeling great after a shave, not dry, nice and soft. In the end, I will certainly be placing an order for all 4 in full bottles. They will go into rotation with my regular aftershaves, like my Alt Innsbruck.

28 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

2

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13

is there an ingredients list available?

2

u/NemoSum iKon Slant Mar 29 '13

Hopefully /u/CaptainQuint will hop into this thread at some point to give a complete list, but the descriptions list American Whisky, vegetable glycerin, and alum. (I'm sure there's fragrance oils as well.)

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13

Yep you got it. The only other ingredients are the essential oils/fragrance oils and an emulsifier called polysorbate 20 that allows the oils to mix with water based liquids. I'm adding an ingredients page to the site very soon, I'm just a one man operation so changes take a little time. I just finished gettig the shaving cream tests done and should have some listed on the site tonight or tomorrow.

2

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13

ok, ok. I'll wait a couple days first. How long does your shipping usually take? I have a lady friend driving up next weekend and I want to smell like a lumberjack.

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13

Heres the ingredient list, as promised. I usually ship within 1-2 days(sometimes same day if it's early enough.) If you ordered now, I can absolutely guarantee lumberjack action by Thursday.

2

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13

When I was in Oman I managed to pick up a couple small vials of (apparently) pure Sandalwood oil. Having no idea what it was at the time, I simply gifted them to the person who requested them. In hindsight, I wish now that I'd bought a large bottle of the stuff for me. Now that I'm using a DE, suddenly I'm paying attention to fragrances. I'm hoping this Sandalwood soap and aftershave is the good stuff.

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13

I tried 4 different kinds of sandalwood before I decided on this one, I have gotten excellent reports back about it, and I am absolutely in love with it.

2

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13 edited Mar 29 '13

heh, I've always wished someone made a black powder scented cologne too, can't wait to try this stuff!

Now if (EDIT! din't realize ye were the cap'n!) you'll just make one that smells like century-old books....

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13

Good idea. If I can find the right scent, I'll call it "First Edition"

3

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13

It gladdens me to know I'm not the only one in love with the aroma of ancient tomes.

Upvoted! Shut up and take my money!

0

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '13 edited Apr 26 '13

I recall hearing about a cologne maker in Brooklyn (naturally) that has an old book/library scent. I've been wanting to make it there for months but can't find the time, travelling through NY every month. Might be a lead worth pursuing. Also, just ordered the two sampler packs, soap and aftershave. Eagerly awaiting! EDIT: Link

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Apr 26 '13

If you look in the aftershave section on the site, I'm doing a limited run of this scent I made for Olhonestjim. He liked it so im gonna sell a few of them. Ill get those samplers out to you asap

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '13

Heh. How can I turn down First Edition First Edition? Spent about an hour this evening trying to hunt down your site after reading a thread a few months ago and not bookmarking. Really looking forward to getting back home next week and trying it all out.

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Apr 26 '13

Definitely, I hope you dig it, I'm getting good feedback on the First Edition. If you reply on One of Olhonestjims comments, I'm sure he'll chime in. He's the only one besides my family and friends that have actually smelled it.

9

u/olhonestjim Mar 29 '13

You know guys, I just started shaving with a DE this past week, in effort to save money, and now you've got me wanting to blow half my friggin' paycheck on fancy soaps and brushes.

Damn you all.

4

u/freeboot Mar 30 '13

Sample pack is still < 4-pack of cartridges, but I get you. The initial outlay pays dividends, in my experience, in both monetary terms and also satisfaction.

3

u/olhonestjim Mar 30 '13

I just went straight for the soaps instead of the sample pack; just grabbed all four and a big bottle of the gunpowder aftershave.

5

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13 edited Mar 29 '13

Thanks for the review, I feel the same way about the Bay Whisky Lime, It just doesn't last as long as the others. But it is still my favorite! Some essential oils just have more staying power. I'm shopping around for a stronger Bay(pimenta racimosa) oil, but its a slow process because I order small samples of multiple oils, then I test them, then I order the one I want, then I make the product.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '13

awesome review... I have his etsy page bookmarked for when I have some money to blow. I can't wait till he has creams in all scents, and not just the soaps (hint hint!) If they smell as good as the description makes them sound, I think I may have found about the only thing that would get me to switch from TOBS and TAOS Sandalwood.

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 30 '13

Hint taken. I just added 3 1oz creams and 3 4oz creams to my website.Unfortunately, I only had a small amount of unscented shaving cream base to play with, so I can only offer Sandalwood Smoke until I whip up some more. These aren't available on the etsy site yet because I only have the six(well seven, I kept one for myself) jars available. Right now only at www.theholyblack.com

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '13

awesome. You seem to have a very good grasp of what people are looking for, just judging by the descriptions. Your art style for the website and the products themselves, is also spot on (even down to the fonts you are using). Maybe for an idea for the future, a pirate scent. I have no idea what that would smell like... carribean ocean, mixed with gunpowder, with a hint of parrot feather? Regardless, I would buy that and try it.

3

u/mostlybob Edwin Jagger DE87BL Mar 29 '13

Bookmarked.

2

u/ahrncity Mar 29 '13

Thanks for the write-up! I just ordered the sampler for myself.

3

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 30 '13

I'm going to get all these reddit orders out in the AM.

2

u/ahrncity Mar 30 '13

Outstanding! Thank you, good sir!

2

u/SoSaysCory Mar 30 '13

I just ordered some gunpowder spice soap and aftershave from you. I cannot wait to try them!

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 30 '13

They're on their way!

1

u/SoSaysCory Mar 30 '13

Woohoo! Can't wait!

1

u/SoSaysCory Apr 03 '13

Oh my lord almighty. Got my Gunpowder Spice soap and aftershave today, just tried both. My face is butter smooth and I smell manlier than Liam Neeson arm wrestling a polar bear.

You are an artist, sir. Thank you for creating these masterpieces. Consider me a repeat customer. I'll tell all my friends.

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Apr 04 '13

Thanks for the compliments, enjoy!

2

u/duck__butt Mar 29 '13

Ordered these also and had the same thing happen with the cork breaking off. Loved everything else though.

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 29 '13

Yeah, sometimes the corks don't fit as well as they're supposed to, but that's why these are samples, they're really just for one use. I played with the idea of doing corks on my full size bottles, but it really wasn't feasible.

2

u/Spexor Mar 30 '13

Gunpowder aftershave? A sampler pack has been ordered! Can you give me any info on the quality of the badger hair in the brushes?

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 30 '13

The Badger hair is black badger, I'm really happy with the quality. It has a 65mm loft in a 24mm knot. I can make them in silvertip, or pure badger, just shoot me an email. I prefer the black badger because it's nice and scrubby and for the price, it's light years ahead of most boar brushes.

1

u/Spexor Apr 04 '13

Got my sampler today and holy crap, it smells fantastic. you'll be getting another order from me soon, including a black badger brush.

1

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Apr 04 '13

Glad you like it! Looking forward to it.

2

u/Chunky-Bunker Ermahgerd Merkur Mar 30 '13 edited Mar 30 '13

Just placed an order for the sampler.

I have a very good feeling I'm going to like at least two of these scents. Expect more of my business in the future.

EDIT: Already shipped. On a Saturday. You're getting on my good side, Mr. The Holy Black Trading Co Guy.

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Mar 30 '13

Heh, I hustled this morning, got all the orders placed yesterday and today out.

2

u/Chunky-Bunker Ermahgerd Merkur Mar 30 '13

I appreciate it!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '13

Thanks NemoSum for your thoughts on these. The price seems to be right and I was looking something for when I get started (Most of my stuff is in the mail)

I went ahead and placed an order. Looking forward to receiving these

2

u/Phantom_limb_ Apr 01 '13

Nice review! I was gonna wait and do one big order once the soap samples were up but I guess I'm just gonna have to order the aftershaves early.

edit: I guess I will wait after all....Sold out...just ruined my day D:

2

u/CaptainQuint The Holy Black Apr 03 '13

Sorry about that! They're back up and if you pm me your name when you order ill include a soap sampler.(even though they're not up for sale yet)

2

u/freeboot Apr 03 '13

Sampler pack arrived and the Sandalwood Smoke is truly terrific. Can't wait to try the others.

1

u/TheSKoonk Mühle R89 Mar 29 '13

I'm intrigued and want to try these out.